Roanoke Valley Collective Response Blueprint for Action Update

Title of Project: Roanoke Valley Collective Response Blueprint for Action Update

Project Period: January - December 2025

Localities: Alleghany, Botetourt, Craig, Franklin and Roanoke Counties; Cities of Covington, Roanoke and Salem; Towns of Clifton Forge, Rocky Mount, and Vinton

Funding Source(s): Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission (RVARC)

Principle Investigator (PI): Laura Taylor

Co-Investigators: Mary Beth Dunkenberger, Lara Nagle, Bernice Owusu-Brown

Key Community Partners: Roanoke Valley Collective Response (RVCR), Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission (RVARC)

Description of Project: 

The Roanoke Valley region has been among the hardest hit in the state and nationally by the opioid and addiction crisis and has been confronted with opioid overdose rates and related deaths that have steadily increased since 2018, when the current Blueprint planning was initiated. Roanoke City, Roanoke County and Salem City combined have rates that are among the highest in Virginia. As one of the first collective organizations to focus on the opioid epidemic in Virginia, the Roanoke Valley Collective Response (RVCR) was poised to address one of the most challenging health crises of our time.

This project will include a thorough review, expansion, and updating of the Blueprint for Action previously written in 2020, within the given timeframe in four phases: orientation, data gathering, analysis and planning, and reporting. All phases of the project be integrated to work with the Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission (RVARC) and Roanoke Valley Collective Response staff, including the Collective’s Advisory Council (CAC), to work strategically towards sustainability and continuity of the project efforts.

Project Goals: 

• Orientation: To understand the current state of the opioid addiction crisis in the Regional Commission’s service area, an analysis of secondary data will be conducted from publicly available sources. Along with the quantitative data collection, a literature review of academic and practitioner sources will be completed to better understand the national, state and regional context of the addiction crisis and efforts in place to combat it, with a focus on identifying emerging and evidenced based models, particularly the Collective Impact Model. After secondary data collection is complete, focus groups will be conducted with stakeholders to identify or confirm gaps in serving individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) as well as make recommendations to address those gaps.
• Data Gathering: This phase of the project will include gathering primary data to assess the impact from the 2020 Roanoke Valley Collective Response Blueprint for Action through several sources. First, information from RVARC and RVCR staff will be gathered to evaluate outcomes from grants, programs, and organizations directly related to or implemented by the Roanoke Valley Collective response or involved stakeholders. Second, a survey will be distributed to Roanoke Valley Collective Response stakeholders to gather feedback on the perceived impact of 2020 Blueprint for Action priorities and strategic planning.
• Planning: The team will facilitate focus groups with each of the RCVR workgroups to identify priority areas within a three-to-five-year timeline. Details from these conservations will inform draft goals and strategies for further development during structured conversations with the RVCR and RVARC leadership, to develop SMART goals and objectives for the blueprint aligned with data collection and other resource needs to accomplish the plan.
• Reporting: From an overall narrative report, key findings will be synthesized into an executive summary with infographics, brochures, social media or other digital media files, a slide deck for presentation of findings, as well as any press materials requested. Any files can be tailored in such to inform an audience of public audience, rather than the technical audience of public servants in which the final report will be most informative.